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Do you remember the Country Boys Market with its wooden floors? Walter Smiths was the place to go for clothes on the Fulton Mall. Penny Candy had great blacklight posters and don't forget Whitie's Pet Store on Blackstone. What vintage retail do you remember growing up in Fresno?
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Here's a place that pops into my head every once in a while. It was called Chauncey's and was located at the Fashion Fair mall in the 70's. When I first saw it, I was 20 at the time and the fact that a bar existed in a mall was strange to me. What was more strange was that you could see the lounge area as you walked by through wooden shutters. Sometimes they had the shutters open wide and you could check out the "bar maids" (I think that's what they called them back then) who were outfitted in fancy short-cut frilly costumes. I did make it in for a cocktail when I turned 21 but I always wondered how a pub could be a success in a mall. I can only guess that they had decent lunch traffic from the local business men of the area but what it was like at night, I have no idea. So who out there hung out at Chauncey's?

Thats so funny you mentioned Chauncy's, I actually posted about that last week. I remember going there for lunch sometimes and having Shrimp Louies, boy were they good! Chauncy's was pretty close to the Weinstocks end, on the left hand side if you are looking towards Weinstocks. Spent a lot of time at that mall in my teenage years.

This is actually something I know about, although I can't say off the top of my head what is at that location now, but Chauncy's was located about halfway between the center of the mall and the old Weinstocks (now Forever 21) building, on the south side of the concourse. The manager of the pub rented a house from my family; this was in 1976, so I know the restaurant was open in 1976. Chauncy's closed within the next year (1977) and a Carl's Jr. Restaurant opened up there in November/December 1977. I helped train some of the crew at the only other CJ store in Fresno at that time, and also worked at the FF CJ store.

Wow, Chauncy's. My Mom used to go there with her boyfriend when I was young. Ha! What about "El Poco" Candles in Fashion Fair? It was there around the time Chauncy's was there, early to mid 70's. And Pickwick Books and Hickory Farms where you could go in and get samples they would actually have out for people? Oh and the Singer store where we would buy patterns for sewing.

Now that in and of itself may not be a great story, but the following is what makes it such a great topic for the lost memories of Fresno. Although I too would stroll down the giant interior of Fashion Fair and peek through the wooden shutters of Chauncey's, I was underage so I never went inside.

Apparently that didn't matter to my now Wife, who at the time was only someone I had dated during high School. After she graduated, she looked for a job for extra money while going to Fresno City College. She was always a very attractive blonde and when she applied for the Cocktail Waitress position at Chauncey's, they immediately snapped her up. She must of looked amazing in that very short brown and tan Chauncy's waitress uniform that I sometimes saw while walking by.

After working there a couple of months her birthday came around and after closing one night they all decided to have a shift drink and toast the new waitress and birthday girl. She wasn't a drinker and quickly became quite buzzed after slurping down her Singapore Sling. Then the bartender asked her, "So how old does this make you today?"

And before she could think about it and with a huge smile, she blurted out: "I'M NINETEEN" and took another sip of her cocktail.

Of course she was immediately fired but luckily she got a job at the Chicken Pie Shop the very next day.